D.I.Y. FOR YOUR MIND, NOT YOUR APARTMENT

What are you up to?

Do you ever stop to ask yourself this question?

We go through our days so quickly – we’re always so busy - preoccupied with the tiny pieces around the edges of our puzzles.

Do you ever take a step back and look at what you’re creating? Is it a scene you’re happy with? Are the pieces you’re putting together getting you to the big picture?

I do myself a favor and never really know what I’m up to. This allows me to be open and listen to my surroundings.

What’s next?

I have an idea, but I’m not in the daily business of finding out.

I toss out the pieces of the puzzle and gauge my days based on their own merit. I let the clues each day lead me to who I’m going to be and am becoming.

Is the next step you take the one that glides you into the warm embrace of your destiny? Probably not, so don't treat every little thing you do with such tediousness that you forget to have some damn fun.

Like the faint smell of a cherry pie on a window ledge, I’m following the scent of where the future will take me, instead of toiling with fitting all the little pieces together.

There are many hip things in this life. Many fads, many trends, many quick to come quick to go ideas that everyone obsesses over and then lets go for the next big thing -- quicker than a five year old dropping her new doll for a newer shiny object.

What differentiates between an actual lifestyle or just hype?

photos taken at the standard hotel in downtown los angeles.

A lot of social movements, though they’ve had genius marketing and awareness strategies, become hype after a while. I’d say after about two weeks of solid “everyone’s talking about it” those messengers lose interest and the campaign fades.

What sucks about that is occasionally we can get jaded when we hear about a topic, and talk about world issues as we would speak of last season’s shoes.

Why is that our steez as human kind? How do we talk about lifestyle through the lens of hype?

Think about "lifestyle" brands or blogs -- are they just hype coated in different language, suggesting a lasting decision?

So quick to pick up the newest hottest thing – we gotta have it – and then drop it for the next?

What makes a lifestyle and why is that term so hard to wrap our minds around?

I think living intentionally in a certain way is hard. It’s much easier to just go with the flow and let others determine what we wear, eat, believe in, etc.

It’s easier not to think.

But what about those people that do think – who set their sights on that which is most difficult and never shift their gaze? How are they different from those around them or from you? Is creating a new future and way of life for yourself as easy as focusing for a few hours a day?